On the night of Saturday September 3 to Sunday September 4, around midnight, a car goes up the avenue Aristide Briand at full speed, towards Place de la République. This straight street, 1 km long from Place Saint-Exupéry is, like any road portion in town, limited to 50. But the car then drives at this time at 150 km/h.
The driver then loses control of his vehicle, and crashes into a lamppost, folding it in half. But the car does not stop there, rolls for 50m before colliding head-on with another vehicle that is parking. Its occupant, a regular in the neighborhood, is thrown at full speed against a wall. Quickly taken care of by firefighters and local residents, he will be transported to the Dijon University Hospital. Today, his days are no longer in danger.
– Antoine Comte
Nine days later, calm returned to Avenue Aristide Briand. A makeshift yellow plastic pole has replaced the lamp post. But the ground remains marked by the incident, just like the inhabitants. “I had a wheel in front of my house, a bumper in front of the tree, there was the rear shelf of the car next to the neighbor’s”. Pascale and her husband have lived in the neighborhood for 22 years. And according to them, the Maladière is unfortunately accustomed to this kind of accident: “Two days later, a scooter was run over by a car on the same avenue. We’ve had these problems for more than 10 years. It’s terrible to say but I’m scared. For me and especially for my grandchildren”.
The town hall deaf to the solicitations of local residents?
Same story with its neighbor. Séverine is a school teacher. Arrived three years ago avenue Aristide Briand, she made a drastic decision. “I travel by bike but I no longer take my avenue. It’s too dangerous, I prefer to take a detour. Even for my daughter who is a pedestrian, I worry because she could be run over at any time. As long as I don’t have a message from her telling me that she has arrived, I’m worried about the speed at which people drive here”.
What to do to fix this situation? The two women called the town hall several times. With the same answer each time: “We don’t ask for much, only slowdowns, speed bumps, chicanes or more speed cameras. We are told that it’s a big street with buses and trucks, that it’s hard to change. We just want to feel safe” regret Pascal.
“In a fraction of seconds, nothing, the black out”
The sexagenarian struck by the drivers the night of September 3 today suffers from multiple fractures. He agreed to testify at the microphone of France Bleu Bourgogne. “I parked my car near my place of work then in a fraction of a second, nothing, the black out. I found myself thrown against a wall” he recalls. “I think a guardian angel watched over me because it could have been worse” does he manage to relativize. “It’s funny because for a short time, it’s like I was in another world”.
“This avenue is dangerous, and has been for a long time. Twenty years ago, my daughter was run over by a young driver while crossing the road” remembers with sadness the sexagenarian. Like him, his daughter survived the dramas. “The red lights are blown, the stop signs are not respected. We must put real slowdowns where the accidents will continue” continues the unfortunate driver, who will have to wait more than three months before returning to work.
A sharp increase in road mortality in 2022
Contacted by France Bleu Bourgogne, the Dijon municipality did not answer our questions. Residents of avenue Aristide Briand, them, think of creating a petition and going to express their dissatisfaction in front of the town hall. For things to finally change, while mortality on Côte-d’Oriennes roads has increased by 50% compared to 2021 according to the prefecture (over the period from January to June 2022).